Kevin Welch's Blog

Like a lot of surveys, this one has a considerable "duh" factor to it. But it's interesting to see what seems logical in a broad way put into numbers that show while consumers may want to do the green thing, costs get in the way.

I don't even know how much I believe that given all the competition for the attention of shoppers to tout this or that benefit or just outright indulgence offered by a product.

It will be a weekend of green in Amarillo with the city and sponsors Xcel energy and Amarillo National Bank putting on Regeneration 2012 at Thompson Park on Saturday and Mariposa Amarillo holding an open house on Sunday.

Volunteers can sign up Saturday to help get 250 new trees in the ground at Thompson Park by signing up in the morning between 8:30 and 10. Lunch for them is courtesy of Carpet Tech, and work will end by 2 p.m.

No, I didn't bring you a t-shirt back from vacation, but I did bring yak jerky.

At the Santa Fe Farmers' Market Saturday, the veggies looked fresh and inviting, and the goat cheese tasted tangy (even after a carne adovado breakfast burrito at the snack bar). So wife Karen and I ended up with jalapeno goat cheese spread, carrots, four different heirloom tomatoes, spinach and a lot of the all-time must-have sunflower sprouts.

From Baja to Alaska, the Weather Channel will be presenting Turbine Cowboys, a look at the men and their work 300 feet in the air.

The premiere, April 17 at 8 p.m. Central, is the start of a series on the work of wind turbine technicians who spend plenty of time without their feet on the ground.

They build, maintain and repair the monsters that have hubs about 300 feet off the Earth. And because companies put the turbines where there's lots of wind, the degree of difficulty for getting work done up there is definitely enhanced.

It definitely looks pink, but I'm less sure about the slime part of lean textured beef product whatcha call it.

The battle continues between beef boosters and those sympathetic to people like the mommy blogger in Houston who really likes the power of almost 300,000 petition signatures behind her.

The governors and their followers toured the Beef Products Inc. factory that remains operational after the company lost so much business from bad publicity it had to close three others including one in Amarillo.

Contrary to previous reports by another media organization, Amarillo remains a strong contender for an operation that would be the nerve center for a project that would create strong connections between all the major electrical grids in the country for the first time.

"We'll make a decision hopefully by mid-May," said David Stidham, chief operating officer and senior vice president of Tres Amigas.